New planet added to ‘Center of Universe’

Clockwise from top, Crane rigger Andrew Reynolds removes rigging as a 12 foot-tall fiberglass replica of the planet Saturn is installed on the roof of Fremont’s Saturn Building. Building owner Brian Regan looks in the globe. A crane hoists the planet. (Photos by Joshua Trujillo, seattlepi.com)

“The Center of the Universe” has a new planet.

A 12 foot-tall fiberglass orb, complete with a sun-collecting ring of solar panels, was hoisted atop the appropriately named Saturn Building in Seattle’s quirky Fremont neighborhood on Thursday. The planet now sits 75 feet over Evanston Avenue North and North 35th Street, across the street from the Fremont Rocket.

Building owner Brian Regan said he looked into getting the massive Seattle P-I globe onto his building, but when he found out how much it weighed he abandoned that idea.

“We’ve got Lenin, we’ve got the rocket, now we have Saturn,” he said as a crane crew worked to hoist his creation.

The globe’s 24-foot-diameter ring of solar panels can generate about 2,600 watts of power, he said. They will be grid-tied, or wired back into the building’s power system and capable of powering several of the small office spaces in the building.

The globe will be illuminated at night and should be prominently visible from the Aurora Bridge.